Storage of renewable energy is a key issue for energy transition. To store electricity produced intermittently by wind turbines and photovoltaic panels, Giw Zanganeh, a young engineering graduate from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich has experimented with a novel type of battery deep in a cavern in the Swiss Alps. The principle behind this energy-storage device is simple: in low-demand periods, the electricity produced by the wind turbine powers a compressor that stores air in a cavern in the mountain. On demand, the direction of the flow is reversed to drive turbines to convert the compressed air back into electricity.
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A huge battery made of air
